Spoilers ahead for Jurassic World: Dominion.
Steven Spielberg’s original Jurassic Park movie changed the film world forever, partly thanks to the groundbreaking visual effects that debuted in the 1993 classic. The beloved movie starred Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern, who recently reunited for the new blockbuster Jurassic World: Dominion. And director Colin Trevorrow “never considered” killing off any of the franchise’s legacy characters for a very emotional reason.
Jurassic fans were delighted to see that the original heroes were going to be back on the big screen and facing dinosaur action in Jurassic World: Dominion. Colin Trevorrow assured fans early on that they’d have significant roles in the movie, which indeed turned out to be true. While some moviegoers were worried that Ian Malcolm, Ellie Sattler, or Alan Grant were going to be killed off, that was never in the cards for Trevorrow. He recently explained his approach while appearing on our very own ReelBlend podcast, saying:
There was discussion about BD (Wong). He was a little touch and go for a second. And there was a moment when we talked about … his story of redemption in this movie is something that is important to me. And yet, you can be redeemed and still not make it, you know? Often, we have to pay for our sins with our lives. We ended up feeling like it was important for him to live so he could follow through, which, obviously in the context of the movies, it’s crucial. As far as our legacy characters, you know, it's really interesting. I've thought about it a lot. I never considered that.
Well, there you have it. While BD Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu might have been a villain in the last two Jurassic World movies, he was still safe from being killed off throughout the course of Dominion’s 146-minute runtime. As were the heroes played by the likes of Laura Dern, Jeff Goldlblum, and Sam Neill. In fact, the only original character to bite the dust in the movie was Lewis Dodgson.
But exactly why did Colin Trevorrow make this decision for (most) of the Jurassic Park OG’s? Other franchises like Scream and Star Wars have promptly killed off legacy characters upon their return to the big screen. It turns it out it was a very emotional decision, as Trevorrow shared with the hosts of ReelBlend,
And the reason why is, I feel like the death of these icons from our childhood are like a dry run for the death of our parents. I think they're preparing us for something that we know is coming, and is really deeply sad. And when people left this movie, I wanted them to feel hope, and to really feel like actually the characters I know and love are safe. Including the dinosaurs. They're gonna be okay. And I think based on when this movie is reaching audiences, what point we're at in our history, both as fans and as humans on the planet, I think this particular movie, we needed to end in a place of, ‘You know what? We can make it.’
I’m not crying, you’re crying. While the Jurassic franchise is known for dealing with out of this world circumstances, it’s still made by people. And Colin Trevorrow thought that killing off the beloved original characters in Dominion would leave the audience with sobering thoughts about mortality and aging. Instead, Trevorrow let the original trio and BD Wong’s Dr. Wu survive the threequel with all of their limbs.
Jurassic World: Dominion ended the current story, so it’s unclear how long it’ll take the property to return to theaters. This is especially true since the reviews for Colin Trevorrow’s threequel have been less than positive.
Jurassic World: Dominion is in theaters now. Be sure to check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
